3 MAY 1957, Page 32

Dead in a Row. By Gwendoline Butler. (Bles, 11s. 6d.)

Murder in a London 'neighbourhood on the way up . . . between the smart and the slum . . . even its smartest purlieus had a raffish quality.' So it is as much an amused and amusing comedy of manners, among the flower shops and the hat shop, the hairdresser's and the secretarial school, as it is a crime story, and engaging on either level.